Pieced together after six days of racing at South Australia Aquatic & Leisure Centre, Olympic champion and world champion Cam McEvoy will line up for his seventh World Championships in Singapore, a new record number of appearances for the men’s team, while 16-year-old Sienna Toohey will be the youngest rookie to wear the gold cap next month.

The women’s roster is led by Kaylee McKeown, Mollie O’Callaghan, Lani Pallister and Meg Harris while the men’s team is led by veterans Kyle Chalmers, Elijah Winnington, Sam Short and Cam.

In the final night of racing:

• Dual Olympian Brendon Smith thought he was on borrowed time until he hit the wall and looked up to see a ‘Q’ next to his name. The Tokyo 400m IM bronze medallist missed out on the podium in Paris but left it all in the pool tonight in a last ditch bid for Singapore.
• Will Petric, the winner of the 200m IM, chased his fellow St Peters’ clubmate down in his specialty leg, the breaststroke, but Smith wasn’t letting go of his ticket with a final surge for Singapore. The two went well under the qualifying time of 4:17.48 with Smith touching in at 4:12.81, followed by Petric (4:13.23).
• Many happy returns for Jenna Forrester, booking her ticket to Singapore on her 22nd birthday. In one of the closest finishes of the meet, Forrester and 200m IM champion Ella Ramsay touched the wall 0.07 apart. Ella just edged out the birthday girl with a qualifying time of 4:36.12 to add to a fourth event to her Singapore program. The Griffith swimmer will also contest the 100m and 200m breaststroke and the 200 and 400m individual medleys. Forrester got the job done in a time of 4:36.19.
• For Sienna Toohey, her selection followed a breakout Age Nationals campaign which saw her clock 1:07.04 in the girls' 100m breaststroke to break Dolphins’ great Leisel Jones' 23-year-old national age record (1:07.31). But this week’s win in the 100m breaststroke - a blistering personal best of 1:06.55 that saw her touch ahead of Ella Ramsay (1:06.86) was the meet’s breakout fairytale: her raw tears of shock and emotion from lane six equally matched by her mum Simone’s proud and pragmatic response: “We’ll have to make plans."
• This week’s ironwoman Lani Pallister broke the first national record for the Olympic program: and it was a big one – the 800m record previously held by Ariarne Titmus, ripping a 8:10.84. Only to better it on the final event of the program with a Commonwealth record in the 1500m – her 15:39.14 breaking a 10-year-old record held by New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle. Pallister won the 400m, 800m and 1500m and finished second in 200m free.

In other highlights:

• Untouchable backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown, in signature blue suit, completed the backstroke treble;

• Soon-to-be dad and Paris Olympic silver medallist Kyle Chalmers - blitzed the 100m freestyle; finished second to fellow dad-to-be McEvoy in the 50m to prove there’s life in the old legs yet. Oh just for good measure, also won the 50m butterfly.
• Mollie O’Callaghan won the 100-200m freestyle and also finished second in the 50m-100m back. In Singapore, Mollie could become Australia’s most successful World Championship swimmer. Currently the St Peters athlete has eight gold medals; only behind Ian Thorpe (11) and Grant Hackett (10). Madi Wilson (eight) and Libby Lenton/Trickett also have eight.
• Harrison Turner ripped a big PB in the 200m fly – his 1:54.90 well under qualifying and his celebration one of the best of the meet. Not only did Turner easily clear the Australian qualifying time of 1:56.03, but he’s also now the #2 Australian all-time in the event.

Dolphins Head Coach Rohan Taylor congratulated all athletes selected and said the team represented a blend of youth and experience with the ultimate eye on the Dolphins’ LA Story.

“I am excited by what this team can do over the next four years,” he said.

“This is the beginning of the third Olympic campaign I have been the head coach of, and this team has a strong nucleus in place. The end goal is LA … but to be great in LA this very young team, which boasts 10 rookies, is going to learn what is needed on the global stage in Singapore,” he said.

“This team is heading to Singapore to gain exposure to international competition … this is the start of our runway. I have watched our pathways develop, and our athletes grow internationally for the past 30 years.

“This is a very balanced program that I know can challenge the very best swimmers in the world. We have to be purposeful about what we do as we don’t have the abundance of numbers of the likes of US and China.

“We have to find the talent like a Sienna Toohey, and these are the stories we love, the ones that inspire Australia through swimming.”

Paris marathon swimming silver medallist Moesha Johnson will kick start her Singapore campaign in the open waters of Sentosa before joining the pool team to contest the 800m and 1500m.

Six open water Dolphins have already booked their ticket for Singapore after qualifying in January.

Olympic quartet of Chelsea Gubecka, Nick Sloman, Kyle Lee and Moesha will be joined by rookies Tayla Martin and Thomas Raymond in a world-class Australian team now headed by experienced coach Fernando Possenti, who will spearhead the next four-year open water cycle towards the 2028.

Moesha and Kyle were automatically selected for Singapore following their respective 5km titles at the nationals in Busselton in January while Chelsea, Tayla, Nick and Thomas cemented selection at the Open Water World Cup meet in Egypt in February - for Martin and Raymond, Singapore will mark their Dolphins debut.

Seven open water events will be held from July 15-20: the women’s and men’s 10km; women’s and men’s 5km; mixed 1500m relay and for the first time at senior level, a 3km knockout sprint.

The 3km sprint will feature athletes competing in consecutive 1500m; 1000m and 500m knockout rounds with Top 10 finishes from each heat advancing to the next round. Only a short break will separate each race.

For dual Olympian Gubecka, this will be her eighth World Championships, the most of any Dolphin in the pool and open water program. The Dolphins will head to Darwin for their staging camp in July before the Singapore World Championships begin on 15th July.

2025 Australian Dolphins World Championships Swim Team